Tannis Claussen dressed up as Professor Trelawney in honour of the brand new Harry Potter guide in Calgary, Ab., on Sunday July 31, 2016. A whole lot of Potter followers thronged Kensington which was reimagined as Diagon Alley to have a good time the discharge of Harry Potter And The Cursed Youngster. Mike Drew / Postmedia

Kensington’s annual magic-themed honest might be shelved within the chamber of secrets and techniques this summer time because the native enterprise group group heads again to the drafting board.

The occasion started in 2016 as an unintentional Harry Potter-themed road pageant that drew 1000’s to the northwest group, in accordance with Annie MacInnis, government director of the Kensington Enterprise Revitalization Zone.

Searching for to have a good time the summer time launch of Harry Potter and the Cursed Youngster, native bookstore Pages invited neighbouring companies to get in on the wand-waving, broom-flying spirit that 12 months.

It prompted your complete neighbourhood to remodel into Diagon Alley, a market from the sequence, as costumed followers of “the boy who lived” packed the streets.

“It wasn’t meant to be a road pageant,” mentioned MacInnis. “So the subsequent 12 months we did it correctly.”

However after one other profitable gathering of Dumbledore’s Military, which noticed the Sunnyside LRT station reworked into Platform 9 three/four and native companies rebranded Gringotts Wizarding Financial institution and Azkaban jail in 2017, MacInnis mentioned the BRZ was pressured to rethink the occasion.

Even home elf Dobbie needed to wait in line for the brand new Harry Potter Guide in Calgary, Ab., on Sunday July 31, 2016. A whole lot of Potter followers thronged Kensington which was reimagined as Diagon Alley to have a good time the discharge of Harry Potter And The Cursed Youngster. Mike Drew/Postmedia

Mike Drew /

Postmedia

Simply six weeks earlier than the 2018 version, she mentioned the group obtained a letter from Common Studios, which owns the licensing rights to Harry Potter theme parks. It outlined restrictions that may restrict the extent to which the road pageant might proceed as deliberate.

“It was a selected letter about ‘right here’s what you’d be allowed to do and right here’s what you’re not allowed to do,’ type of factor,” MacInnis mentioned.

“Common Studios determined that individuals simply couldn’t have Harry Potter festivals. So that they mainly shut down Harry Potter festivals in all places, until you wished to pay fairly a bit of cash, I assume, to be licensed as a Harry Potter occasion.”

On quick discover and unable to afford the right licensing — the pageant was funded by native companies that type the BRZ — the group rebranded the occasion as a generic “Fantasy Faire” final 12 months, encouraging followers of all genres of legendary and medieval tales to take part.